A Lying Heart
by hopelessromantic39
Summary: This takes place a few weeks after "Red Team/Blue Team", but with a more dramatic ending than what was aired. Owen is helping Alicia recover from a nasty case of the flu, but what if it is something more? What will Alicia do when something outside of her control forces her to finally make a choice between Peter and Will?


**A/N: This story has been in my head since Season 1, but I adapted it to fit in this season because I needed to get it out! This is my first fan fiction so please let me know what you think. I plan on making a lot more chapters for this and I promise it will be worth the read. **

"_You got a problem, you bring it to me. You don't take it to court." _

"_We asked you to take this seriously."_

"_You are losing us a client."_

"_It damn well is your fault!"_

"_That's what you want. That's what these meeting with the clients… Is that what this is about?"_

"_Oh, and you are?"_

_Then, his lips on hers: passionate, desperate._

_She ran. She was afraid._

_The elevator door was closing; his foot stopped it at the last minute._

"_I'm not letting you go a second time."_

_He pressed the emergency stop button on the elevator._

_Again, his lips. His hands, unbuttoning her shirt-_

"Ugh!" Alicia was jolted out of her sleep in order to make it to the bathroom to throw up. She had been slammed with a nasty flu and was trying to sleep it off, but, unfortunately, her upset stomach had other plans.

Alicia collapsed next to the toilet that she had just emptied her breakfast into. _How could I have been so stupid? _Alicia silently berated herself. _How could I have...and in the elevator? _But deep down, Alicia knew why. It was that look in Will's eyes that made her knees go weak. That look that said, _I want you and I'm going to have you._ She knew why, but she still couldn't believe she let herself give up all of that emotional ground she had painstakingly put between herself and her boss. Alicia moaned.

"Hey, are you alright?" Owen asked, walking in with a glass of water in his hand. "I wasn't sure if you were awake yet."

"I'm awake, unfortunately," Alicia muttered. He handed her the glass and she gratefully took a sip.

"Do you want me to get you anything?" Owen asked. "Toast? Soup?"

"Ugh. No," she said as a wave of nausea hit her at the mention of food.

"How about some stimulating conversation then?" Alicia nodded. "Alright," Owen started. "So tell me about the men in your life."

Alicia laughed weakly. "Nice Owen. Don't even beat around the bush."

"What? You think I came here just to play nurse?" Owen joked. "The only reason I'm getting this close to you, Typhoid Mary, is so I can dig about your personal life while your defenses are down."

Alicia smiled sadly. "There's nothing to tell, Owen. Will and I broke up and now Peter and I are trying to make our marriage work."

"But you're still separated," Owen said.

"Yeah, but it's complicated," Alicia huffed in exasperation. She was getting tired of explaining this to her brother every time he asked about her personal life.

"Alright, fine. You can go ahead and lie to yourself Alicia, but everyone else knows the truth." Owen crossed his arms and leaned up against the bathroom door.

"How am I lying to myself?"

Owen sighed. "Alicia, you're only trying to work things out with Peter because you feel obligated to."

"That's not true!" Alicia said defensively. "I still have feelings for him."

"But not as strong as your feelings for Will," Owen countered.

"Seriously?" she asked. "Are we really going down that road again?"

"Yes, Alicia. I just don't like seeing you throw your life away. You had an opportunity to be happy and you threw it away because you were scared. Just let yourself enjoy life Alicia. You should—," but the rest of what Owen was going to say was cut off as Alicia suddenly groaned and threw up into the toilet.

"Gross!" Owen exclaimed, jumping back a step. "A little warning next time!"

"Sure thing Owen," Alicia squeaked. She really felt miserable.

"You know, you really look like crap," Owen said looking at his sister in concern. "I haven't seen anyone puke so much since Rita was pregnant on _The Real Housewives of Toledo_."

She chuckled. "Owen, honestly, I don't know how you can watch that garb-," Alicia stopped.

"What is it? Are you going to puke again?" Owen asked with a grimace.

"Owen," Alicia looked up at him desperately. "What's today's date?"

"April 5th. Why?" he asked. She just looked up at him with a shocked expression on her face.

"What? Do you need me to call a doctor?" Owen asked worriedly.

"Owen, I...I need you to do me a favor."

"Anything sis," Owen said, serious for once.

Alicia swallowed hard. "Owen, I need you to go to the store and pick up a pregnancy test for me."

_Oh God please. _Alicia thought to herself as she waited for the pregnancy test in her hands to give her the results. She remembered very well from Zach and Grace how the two minutes it takes for the little blue plus sign to show up or not can feel like an eternity.

Alicia shut her eyes tightly. _When did my life become such a melodrama? _She thought. With Peter's affairs, his jail time, and then her own affair, Alicia's life had quickly spiraled into something that resembled a soap opera.

Alicia looked at her watch. Ten more seconds. _Oh please let it be negative_, she prayed. No better time to find religion than when you're praying you're not going to have a baby.

_Time's up_. Alicia just stared at the pregnancy test in her hands. She didn't know how long she was sitting there and she jumped when she heard a knock on the bathroom door.

"Alicia," Owen asked through the door. "Um, how did it go?" Alicia opened the door and wordlessly handed him the pregnancy test. Owen stared down at it for a few seconds and then he looked up at Alicia.

"Well," Owen said. "I'll guess I'll call and see if Bravo can make a _Real Housewives of Chicago_."

Alicia laughed and suddenly broke into tears.

"Oh, sweetheart," Owen said, enveloping his sister in a warm hug. "I didn't mean to make you cry."

"It's not you, Owen," Alicia sobbed. "I just can't believe that this is how my life turned out: I'm pregnant at 43 and I don't know who the father is!" At that, Alicia's crying became hysterical.

Owen just gaped at her. "You…You don't…I mean, you're not…not sure who—," he stuttered flabbergasted.

Alicia just nodded. Owen had no idea what to do. His sister was always the responsible one who consoled him for the messes he got himself into, and none of his messes seemed to be nearly as bad as the crisis Alicia was dealing with at the moment. All he could do was hold her as she cried.

Eventually, Alicia calmed herself down and wiped her eyes. "What am I going to do, Owen?" she asked miserably.

"Alright," Owen said sitting Alicia down on her bed. "Tell me everything that happened. Obviously, you and Will aren't as over as you said."

"No," Alicia started. "I thought we were, but we had a moment of weakness after an argument and ended up having sex in the elevator at work."

"Wait a second," Owen interrupted. "You had sex in an elevator! That's so hot!"

"Owen!" Alicia yelled, slapping him on the arm. "That is so not the point!"

"Right, sorry," he said, chastised. "Continue."

"So Will and I told each other that it was a one-time moment of weakness and it wouldn't happen again, but I felt so guilty that a few days later I practically jumped Peter in his campaign trailer," Alicia continued. "That was three weeks ago and it didn't register with me that I didn't get my period until you made that comment about _The Real Housewives of Toledo_."

"Oh, Alicia," Owen sighed. "Are you going to, you know, get rid of it?" he asked somewhat guiltily.

Alicia looked surprised. "I don't know. I didn't really think about that. I don't know if I could."

Owen nodded. "Yeah, it doesn't seem like a very Alicia-like thing to do."

"Well, having an affair with your boss isn't a very Alicia-like thing to do, but I did that anyway," Alicia said somewhat bitterly.

"Are you going to tell them?" Owen asked.

"I don't know," she said. "How do I say 'I'm pregnant and it might be yours, but there's a good chance it's not'? Hallmark hasn't made that card yet."

"Can you take a paternity test or something?"

"Not for a few more weeks," Alicia sighed. "I guess I'm just going to have to hide it for now."

"You think that'll work?" Owen questioned. Alicia stood up.

"I sure as hell hope so."


End file.
